Emplacing member for gun carriages and mounts



Feb. 11, 1936. BARNES 2,030,051

I EMPLACING MEMBER FOR GUN CARRIAGES AND MOUNTS Filed Sept. 5, 195-3 2Sheets-Sheet l Fig.1.

Eladetm M.EIE.1"T1ES i WM Attmrney Inventor I Patented Feb. 11, 1936UNITED STATES EMPLACIN G MEMBER FOR GUN CARRIAGES AND MOUNTS Gladeon M.BarneaUnited States Army, Hastings, Mich.

Application September 5, 1933, Serial No. 688,139

3 Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30,1928; 370 0. G. 757) The invention described herein maybe manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmentalpurposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

5 This invention relates to an emplacing member for gun carriages andmounts.

Modern field, and anti-aircraft gun carriages are equipped with longemplacing members such as trails and outriggers in order to givesatisfactory stability during firing with a minimum amount of groundpreparation. In the indirect system of fire control now extensively usedfor guns firing at high speed targets on the ground or in the air, it isnecessary that the emplacement of the gun carriage be of a fixedcharacter, as any movement relative to the ground affects theorientation of the gun.

When long outriggers are used it is generally found necessary to preparethe ground in order that the outriggers may lie level thereon. Thispreparation generally involves the addition or the removal of dirt inorder to. provide a solid and level surface for contact of theOutriggers.

The purpose of the present invention is to remedy the foregoingdisadvantages by providing a jointed outrigger whose parts may berigidly connected and locked in various angular relations.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides inthe novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details ofconstruction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood thatchanges in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed maybe made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from thespirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a gun carriage including a wheeledaxle unit and showin the improved emplacing members.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the gun pedestal lowered to the ground.

Fig. 3 is a view taken generally on the line 33 of Fig. 4 and showingthe joint of an outrigger.

Fig. 4 is a view of Fig. 3 partly in side elevation and partly insection. a

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 4.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 there is shown a gun carriage consistinggenerally of a pedes- 55 tal mount A, supported by a detachable wheeledaxle unit B and by emplacing members C, and supporting a top carriage Dof typical anti-aircraft design in which a gun E is trunnioned as at Fadjacent the breech to provide for high angle firing. V 5

A pair of emplacing members 0 on the rear of the pedestal constitute theconventional gun carriage trails and are each secured to the pedestal bymeans of a vertical hinge pin 5. Each trailconsists of an inner part 6which is connected to the pedestal and an outer part I which carries aspade 8 adapted to enter the ground.

The adjoining ends are connected on their upper side by a horizontallydisposed hinge pin 9 whereby the outer part 1 may be rotated in the 15vertical plane of the trail. The hinge pin 9 is mounted in aperturesI0l0 in a pair of spaced plates Il-l| on the inner part 6 and passesthrough a bearing I2 extending between and. secured to spaced platesl3-l3 fixed on the out- 20 er part 1 and fitting between the plates l l.

The outer part 1 includes a floor plate M on which are fixed spacedblocks l5l5 each having a vertically elongated slot "5. The slots l6receive a connecting pin I1 passing through the 25 rear end of anactuating screw shaft IS. The pin I! also projects through verticalslots Iii-l9 in the plates I3 and its extremities ride in horizontallyelongated slots 20-20 in the plates 0 The shaft I8 is housed in atubular casing 2| in the inner part 6 of the trail and is journaled inbearings 22. A nut 23 on the screw shaft is restrained againsttranslational movement by the bearings 22 so that it will be capable ofaxially displacing the screw shaft. The exterior surface of the nut isprovided with worm teeth 24 meshing with the threads of a worm 25 on ashaft 26. The shaft 26 is journaled in a bearing 21 and is rotated bymeans of a crank handle 28. The pitch of the screw shaft and the ratioof the worm gearing are determined so as to require the application ofonly a slight force at the handle. 45

In operation, when it is desired to angularly displace the outer part 'Irelative to the inner part 6, the crank handle 28 is actuated to rotatethe nut 23 and thereby cause the screw shaft to be axially moved. Thescrew shaft being connected to the outer part 1 through the pin l1causes the part I to be rotated about the hinge pin 9. The actuatingmechanism also serves to rigidly lock the part 1 in adjusted positionand there will be no movement between the parts of the trail even whensubjected to the firing stresses of the gun. The provision of the slotsI6 and I! serves to permit angular displacement of the outer part 1without bending the screw shaft.

By employing the jointed trail the gun mount can be emplaced on roughground with but little if any preparation. While only two trails orOutriggers are shown in Fig. 2 it is contemplated that additional onesmay be attached to the pedestal as is well understood in the art.

I claim:

1. A gun mount emplacing member comprising an inner part connected tothe gun mount and having spaced plates with horizontally disposed slots,an outer part having spaced plates with vertically disposed slots andadapted to fit between the plates of the inner part, a horizontallydisposed hinge pin passing through all of the spaced plates, a floorplate on the outer part, spaced blocks fixed to the floor plate andhaving vertically disposed slots in alignment with the Vertical slots inthe plates, a screw shaft mounted in the inner part and having an enddisposed between the fixed blocks, a pin passing through said end andthe slots in the blocks and plates, a nut on the screw shaft, means forconstraining the nut against translational movement, and means forrotating the nut.

2. A gun mount, an emplacing member comprising an inner part connectedto the gun mount, a horizontally disposed pin carried on the upper sideof said part adjacent one end, an outer part hingedly mounted on thepin, a floor plate on the outer part, spaced blocks fixed to the floorplate and having vertically disposed slots, a screw shaft mounted in theinner part and having an end disposed between the fixed blocks, a pinpassing through said end and the slots in the blocks, a nut on the screwshaft, means for constraining the nut against translational movement,and means for rotating the nut.

3. A gun mount, and emplacing member com prising an inner part connectedto the gun mount, a horizontally disposed pin carried on said partadjacent one end, an outer part hingedly mounted on the pin, a screwshaft housed Within and carried by the inner part and having avertically movable connection with the outer part, a nut on the screwshaft, means for constraining the nut against translational movement,and means for rotating the nut.

GLADEON M. BARNES.

